NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is being sued for refusing to release documents about a $350,000 analysis of business- tax collections in Tennessee.

Attorney Brett Carter filed the lawsuit, alleging a "willful" violation of the Tennessee Open Records Act, in chancery court in Nashville on Wednesday.

Carter, of the firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, is seeking information used by the state Department of Finance and Administration in drafting the "Revenue Modernization Act" that Haslam has proposed to lawmakers this year. Both House and Senate committees are scheduled to hold hearings on the bill next week.

Legislative analysts project the proposal would raise $53 million for the state over the next two years, plus $7 million a year for local governments.

A Haslam administration spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Haslam announced last year that his administration was commissioning a study of Tennessee's revenue system to try to explain the volatility of business-tax collections, and Finance Commissioner Larry Martin has referred to the study as the basis for the recommended law changes.

Carter requested a copy of the resulting study and other documents relating to the analysis, but was denied. Haslam's lawyers argued that no single study was produced by the analysis, and that other records involved in the analysis were protected by an open-records exemption for taxpayer information.

"The fact that no report was produced for a $350,000 tax study is counterintuitive and inconsistent with reasonable practices of efficient state government," Carter's lawsuit says.

Carter disputes that his request would violate taxpayer confidentiality, and notes that state law authorizes the revenue commissioner to "disclose tax administration information, other than returns and tax information, if the commissioner determines that such disc losure is in the best interest of the state."

In his State of the State address last month, Haslam cited the analysis of his "outside experts" to determine why there had been a sharp downturn in business-tax collections. He touted the resulting tax proposal as a way to "level the playing field in terms of sales tax and business taxes."

The sweeping legislation includes taxing software and video games accessed remotely, and creating incentives for companies to distribute products in Tennessee.

"We are committed to Tennessee remaining a low tax state," the governor said. "This proposal simply brings us in line to better compete with other states and to not put our in-state businesses at a disadvantage, which we are doing today."